Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Russell Lance Fairfax
- Born
- Saturday, 29th March, 1952
- Current Age
- 72 years and 29 days
- Place Of Birth
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
The ‘golden-haired boy’ of Australian RU in the early 1970s played in 8 Tests against France (1971-72), NZ (1972), Fiji (1972) and Wales and England on the 1973-74 Wallaby Tour before changing codes in 1974. A Souths junior the 21-year old signed with Easts and was an immediate sensation - a talented, intelligent player gifted with a great kick and swerve. Fairfax played for NSW against Great Britain in 1974 and Test honours looked a formality after Easts' grand final victory that year. A shocking leg break suffered in a mid-week Amco Cup match in 1975, however, proved a major setback in his career. Fairfax recovered but never quite seemed able to recapture the magic of that first season. In the final of the 1977 Amco Cup against Wests he scored a miraculous try after a great kick and chase but failed to kick the goal and the Magpies held on to win by a point. When his career faded Fairfax played a season with Souths before becoming a lower grade coach with the club. In 1990 he returned to Easts as first grade coach but the move was not a success and he was sacked toward the end of the year. He has since taken on a career as a sports reporter with FoxSports.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
Competition | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Craven Mild Cup | 15 | 3 | 9 | - | 27 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 73.33% | List | ||||
NRL | 119 | 38 | 34 | 2 | 184 | 79 | 38 | 2 | 66.39% | List | ||||
National Panasonic Cup | 13 | 5 | 15 | - | 45 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.62% | List | ||||
Interstate Matches | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NRL Finals | 7 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.86% | List | ||||
City vs Country Firsts | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
World Club Challenge | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
Tooheys Challenge Cup | 1 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
NSW City Seconds | 1974, 1976 | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
NSW Firsts | 1974-75 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 1 | 66.67% | List | |||
NSW City Firsts | 1975 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1974-1976 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 66.67% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1974 | 22 | 9 | 3 | - | 33 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 86.36% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1975 | 19 | 7 | - | 1 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 89.47% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1976 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 33 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 55.56% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1977 | 20 | 9 | 16 | - | 59 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 65.00% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1978 | 16 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 62.50% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1979 | 13 | 2 | 8 | - | 22 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 38.46% | List | |||
Eastern Suburbs | NSWRFL 1980 | 7 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.14% | List | |||
South Sydney | NSWRFL 1981 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25.00% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Eastern Suburbs | 1974-80 | 115 | 37 | 34 | 2 | 181 | 78 | 35 | 2 | 67.83% | List | |||
South Sydney | 1981 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1974-1981 | 119 | 38 | 34 | 2 | 184 | 79 | 38 | 2 | 66.39% | List |
Contributions:
Paul Carter, Andrew Ferguson, Rugby League Tables, Shawn Dollin, Greg Fiveash, Alan Katzmann, AJ Lucantonio
Your Say
13/11/2021
Russell played flegg for Souths in 1969 same year I played sgball.Graham roberts.
28/03/2022
Russell turns 70 tomorrow, not 71.
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